Accuracy of handheld fat loss machines???

tshaw024

Member
I was just curious, I used one of these for the first time the other day at the gym. Not sure how accurate they are. If they are a little off do they normally give you a higher or lower than normal reading? Mine was 13%, which I would like to get down around 8%. At 210 lbs that's about 10.5 lbs. of fat to lose. Any suggestions on how to build a little lean muscle while cutting the fat?
 
Bioelectrical impedance is just about the most inaccurate measure of body composition known to man.
 
russy_russ said:
Bioelectrical impedance is just about the most inaccurate measure of body composition known to man.
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I can't agree more. I went in the gym with a freind of mine one time. He's a tall non muscular guy with a pot belly. We did our fat % with one of those things. his came out at like 8%. At the time I was sredded with a awsome six pack and my % came out at like 19%.
 
tshaw024 said:
I was just curious, I used one of these for the first time the other day at the gym. Not sure how accurate they are. If they are a little off do they normally give you a higher or lower than normal reading? Mine was 13%, which I would like to get down around 8%. At 210 lbs that's about 10.5 lbs. of fat to lose. Any suggestions on how to build a little lean muscle while cutting the fat?
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This has been answered in other threads.

BIA scales, handheld monitors, or anything that uses an electrical current to measure body composition are the most INaccurate ways to measure body composition. For a start, they are dependent upon how hydrated you are and a variety of other factors, including temperature, time of day, whether you have trained or eaten prior and how long ago that was, etc; and, unless your bodyfat is distributed evenly over your body (which for most people, it is NOT) then the reading is going to be far from accurate (i.e. scales only measure the body composition of your LOWER body; handheld devices measure your UPPER body or ONE SIDE of your body, etc. The reading you get is usually out by up to 10% bodyfat, and usually gives a higher reading.

If you want to RECOMP, then you need to look at your DIET manipulation, since this is what is going to determine your success at leaning whilst gaining muscle.


~Rosie
Team APPNUT
 
ecupirate said:
they suck real bad, pretty much as bad as figuring out bmi for body composition
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BMI is NOT a measure of body composition; it is used to assess whether one is underweight, a healthy weight, or overweight for their height (and yes, it is NOT an accurate measure of that either)!

~Rosie
Team APPNUT
 
jayts22 said:
So how about the calipers, do you think there are accurate?
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They can be a little bit more accurate as far as superficial percent fat is concerned. However, variance exists among testers.
 
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